I'm still not completely sure how my parents found Branhasim. They were both very vague about the whole thing, but I think they were introduced to it through some friends or by a stranger at a religious event they went to. My parents were not particularly religious at this time.
It was the winter of 1998. To be more precise, it was my winter vacation from university of 1998-99. I had successfully completed a year and a half of university and I was slowly starting to realize more and more that I really needed to get out of the situation…
When I feel close and comfortable enough with someone, and if the topic of one’s earlier years comes up, I will share a little of my background. I've seen many different reactions to my story. Some I could tell right away were uncomfortable. Others were simply surprised and curious. A…
But there I was, in my father's hotel room searching for a psychiatric hospital. He adamantly said that he did not want to go to a hospital in Slovakia. I told him that I didn't even know if there are any such hospitals close by in Slovakia anyway. The nearest…
My father visited Alex in Taipei a few times, and on one occasion he decided he would stay for three months. He always talks about how he hates it in New York and refers to it in our conversations as "hell on Earth". My father lives rent free in an…
He lasted four hours until he needed to go to a psychiatric hospital. After picking my father up from the airport, getting his rental car, and making a pitstop at the grocery store for wine and cookies, we went to his hotel. Living in Vienna, Austria, means everything is generally…
Hands that could not escape the humidity and sweat almost caused me to drop it. The bottle, enshrouded in a coat of condensation after being pulled from the hotel refrigerator lobby, was the only thing that was between me and another parched morning. Summers in Minnesota - while muggy sometimes…